DOCSLIB.ORG

Capability Brown, Royal Gardener: the Business of Place-Making in Northern Europe, Pp

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Capability Brown, Royal Gardener: the Business of Place-Making in Northern Europe, Pp CHAPTER 5 The Brown Business Tom Williamson1 Lancelot Brown is popularly viewed as an innovative genius who invented a new kind of ‘naturalistic’ setting for the residences of the rich. He swept away gardens enclosed by walls and hedges, avenues, and all forms of geo- metric planting, and in their place he created ‘landscape parks’, comprising wide prospects of turf, irregularly scattered with trees and clumps of woodland, and surrounded in whole or part by a perimeter woodland belt. The boundary between the mownlawns around the house, and this wider parkland landscape, was dissolved by the use of the sunken fence or ha-ha and, wherever topography and money permitted, a lake of serpentine or irregular form would be placed in the middle distance of the view from the windows.2 As most readers will be well aware, of course, we must be careful not to exaggerate the extent to which all this was new. Purely geo- metric styles of garden design had, in fact, been in retreat for many decades before Brown began his career as an independent designer in 1749.3 Through the 1720s Charles Bridgeman and others had created simplified geo- metric landscapes which already, at some places, included lakes of irregular form. In the 1730s William Kent designed serpentine gardens as distinct spaces within such simplified formal frameworks, ornamented with classical buildings and scattered clumps, at Holkham, Stowe, and elsewhere.4 During the 1740s and 1750s these gardens in turn became progressively more cluttered, both with elaborate and often exotic planting, and with a whole host of weird and wonderful structures – Chinese temples, gothic ruins, mosques, Turkish tents – to create what some historians refer to as the ‘rococo garden’.5 As early as 1739, the year that Brown moved south from Northumberland, one contributor to The World lampooned the contemporary obsession with ‘moving earth’, and the way that ‘a Serpentine River and a Wood are become the absolute Necessities of Life, without which a gentleman of the smallest fortune thinks he makes no Figure in the country’.6 1 Although written by the author, this chapter draws heavily on the innovative and important research of David Brown. 2 Stroud, D. (1950). Capability Brown; Hyams, E. (1971). Capability Brown and Humphry Repton. London: Dent; Hinde, T. (1986) Capa- bility Brown: The story of a master gardener. London: Norton and Co; Brown, J. (2011). The omnipotent magician, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. London: Chatto and Windus; Mayer, L. (2011). Capability Brown and the English landscape garden. Princes Risborough: Shire; Shields, S. (2016). Moving Heaven and Earth: Capability Brown’s gift of landscape. London: Unicorn Publishing. 3 Jacques, D. (1983). Georgian gardens: The reign of nature. London: Batsford. 4 Hunt, J. D. (1987). William Kent, landscape garden designer: An assessment and catalogue of his designs. London: Zwemmer. 5 Mowl, T. (1999). An insular rococo: Architecture, politics and society in Ireland and England, 1710–70. London: Reaktion; Symes, M. (2012). The picturesque and the later Georgian garden. Bristol: Redcliffe Press. 6 Richardson, T. (2007). The Arcadian friends: Inventing the English landscape garden (p. 125). London: Bantam. How to cite this book chapter: Williamson, T. 2020. The Brown Business. In Finch, J. and Woudstra, J. (Eds.),Capability Brown, Royal Gardener: The business of place-making in Northern Europe, pp. 61–74. York: White Rose University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22599 /CapabilityBrown.e. CC BY-NC 4.0 62 Capability Brown, Royal Gardener Figure 5.1: Design for the pleasure ground at Badminton, Gloucestershire, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, c. 1752. This differs little from other contemporary gardens laid out in a broadly rococo style. Note, in particular, the rather stiff sinuosity of theha-ha, and the survival of regular geometric planting in the wider landscape. Copyright David Brown, CC BY-NC 4.0. Serpentine landscaping was not new when Brown began to practise; the application of this aesthetic to the entire landscape around the house was novel, as was the complete rejection of all geometry. Yet Brown’s style did not appear suddenly, or fully formed. His early works, at places like Badminton in Gloucestershire (1752) or Ingestre in Staffordshire (1756), differed little if at all from other gardens laid out at the time in a broadly rococo style (Figure 5.1). They displayed a rather mannered irregularity and continued to co-exist with geo- metric features. Indeed, most of his energies were directed towards gardens and pleasure grounds in the imme- diate vicinity of the house, rather than at the wider landscape. At Moor Park in Hertfordshire, for example, where he worked in the mid-1750s, he extensively modified Bridgeman’s monumental landscape to create an extensive, ‘naturalistic’ pleasure ground to the east of the mansion. Yet he did little if anything in the wider parkland, which continued to be filled with a dense mesh of avenues.7 Brown’s style was developing rapidly by this time, however, and by the end of the decade one of its key features was firmly in place: the recurrent, almost formulaic arrangement of a mansion looking down across a smooth slope of turf to a serpentine area of water (Figure 5.2). Brown was now designing on a grander scale, moreover, paying particular attention to drives and approaches. Avenues and other geometric features were ruthlessly removed, unless his clients 7 MacNair, A. D. M., Rowe, A. & Williamson, T. (2015). Dury and Andrews’ map of Hertfordshire: Society and landscape in the eighteenth century (pp. 181–182). Hatfield: Hertfordshire University Press. The Brown Business 63 Figure 5.2: Kimberley Hall, Norfolk, showing Brown’s classic design feature of an expanse of smooth turf extending uninterrupted from house to water. Photo copyright Tom Williamson, CC BY-NC 4.0. insisted on their retention, and the number of ornamental buildings was reduced. By the early 1760s all the elements of his style were firmly in place. Natural landforms – their outlines suitably smoothed by excavation and earth movement – were the key feature, their shape and disposition accentuated by planting and by the use of water:8 one of the purposes of Brown’s lakes was, arguably, to emphasise the shape of the land, the subtlety and complexity of the contours, and contemporary illustrations make it clear that the sides of his water bodies were kept scrupulously clear of marginal vegetation. His landscapes were essays in serpentine simplicity, almost minimalist in conception. Of particular significance were the numerous carefully tended grass rides, and gravelled drives, which threaded through the parkland, often running in and out of the perimeter belts (Figure 5.3). Earlier styles of ‘naturalistic’ garden had privileged particular views and prospects, and they had employed features and buildings to convey messages, ideas, and emotions. In Brown’s designs the landscape itself – the massing of trees, the disposition of water and the shapes of landforms – was the message, and, while they often included important viewpoints, they were mainly intended to be experienced on the move, along the rides and drives, on horseback or in a carriage, and thus as a continuum. Thomas Whately’s description, written in the late 1760s, of the approach to Caversham in Berkshire, laid out by Brown a few years before, captures this concept well. It continues for nearly 1,000 words and has an almost filmic quality: 8 Williams, R. (1983). Making places: Garden-mastery and English Brown. Journal of Garden History, 3, 382–385. 64 Capability Brown, Royal Gardener Figure 5.3: A Plan for Langley Park, Norfolk, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, 1765. Brown fashioned clumps, rides, and walks through the remnants of an ancient wood in the north-western section of the park. Photo copyright Tom Williamson, CC BY-NC 4.0. ... the road passes between the groups [of trees], under a light and lofty arch of ash; and then opens upon a glade, broken on the left only by a single tree; and on the right by severalbeeches standing so close together as to be but one in appearance; this glade is bounded by a beautiful grove, which in one part spreads a perfect gloom, but in others divides into different clusters, which leave openings for the gleams of light to pour in ...9 There were obvious connections between the way that the landscape was experienced on the move, and the manner in which Brown’s designs prioritised smooth rather than rugged landforms. Brown would doubtless have approved of Burke’s definition of beauty in his Philosophical Enquiry of 1756: Most people must have observed the sort of sense they have had, on being swiftly drawn in an easy coach, on a smooth turf, with gradual ascents and declivities. This will give a better idea of the beautiful, and point out its probable cause better than almost any thing else.10 A landscape created by Brown was thus a continuous if varied whole. It was less like a series of static pictures than the words and punctuation in a sentence, a sense neatly encapsulated in the famous conversation which Brown had with Hannah More in 1782: 9 Whately, T. (1770). Observations on modern gardening (p. 148). London. 10 Burke, E. (1756). A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and the beautiful (p. 155). London. The Brown Business 65 He told me he compared his art to literary composition. ‘Now there’, said he, pointing his finger, ‘I make a comma, and there’, pointing to another spot, ‘where a more decided turn is proper, I make a colon; at another part, where an interruption is desirable to break the view, a parenthesis; now a full stop, and then I begin another subject.11 Brown may have employed this analogy often, for an article in theGazetteer and New Daily Advertiser for 1780, describing how the planting of a single willow had been Brown’s sole contribution to the grounds of Garrick’s villa in Hampton, noted: ‘This single addition Brown compared to punctuation, and not without some felicity of phrase, called it a dot, the presence and operation of which, as it were, made sense of the rest’.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • This Place Has Capabilities a Lancelot 'Capability' Brown Teachers Pack
    This Place has Capabilities A Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown Teachers Pack Welcome to our teachers’ pack for the 2016 tercentenary of the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Lancelot Brown was born in the small village of Kirkhale in Northumberland in 1716. His name is linked with more than 250 estates, throughout England and Wales, including Stowe in Buckinghamshire, Blenheim Palace (Oxfordshire) Dinefwr Park (Carmarthenshire) and, of course Chatsworth. His first visit to Chatsworth was thought to have been in 1758 and he worked on the landscape here for over 10 years, generally visiting about twice a year to discuss plans and peg out markers so that others could get on with creating his vision. It is thought that Lancelot Brown’s nickname came from his ability to assess a site for his clients, ‘this place has its capabilities’. He was famous for taking away traditional formal gardens and avenues to create ‘natural’ landscapes and believed that if people thought his landscapes were beautiful and natural then he had succeeded. 1 Education at Chatsworth A journey of discovery chatsworth.org Index Page Chatsworth Before Brown 3 Brown’s Chatsworth 6 Work in the Park 7 Eye-catchers 8 Work in the Garden and near the House 12 Back at School 14 Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown 2 Education at Chatsworth A journey of discovery chatsworth.org Chatsworth before Brown The Chatsworth that Brown encountered looked something like this: Engraving of Chatsworth by Kip and Knyff published in Britannia Illustrata 1707 The gardens were very formal and organised, both to the front and back of the house.
    [Show full text]
  • The American Lawn: Culture, Nature, Design and Sustainability
    THE AMERICAN LAWN: CULTURE, NATURE, DESIGN AND SUSTAINABILITY _______________________________________________________________________________ A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University _______________________________________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Landscape Architecture _______________________________________________________________________________ by Maria Decker Ghys May 2013 _______________________________________________________________________________ Accepted by: Dr. Matthew Powers, Committee Chair Dr. Ellen A. Vincent, Committee Co-Chair Professor Dan Ford Professor David Pearson ABSTRACT This was an exploratory study examining the processes and underlying concepts of design nature, and culture necessary to discussing sustainable design solutions for the American lawn. A review of the literature identifies historical perceptions of the lawn and contemporary research that links lawns to sustainability. Research data was collected by conducting personal interviews with green industry professionals and administering a survey instrument to administrators and residents of planned urban development communi- ties. Recommended guidelines for the sustainable American lawn are identified and include native plant usage to increase habitat and biodiversity, permeable paving and ground cover as an alternative to lawn and hierarchical maintenance zones depending on levels of importance or use. These design recommendations form a foundation
    [Show full text]
  • Download Thesis
    This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Fast Horses The Racehorse in Health, Disease and Afterlife, 1800 - 1920 Harper, Esther Fiona Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 10. Oct. 2021 Fast Horses: The Racehorse in Health, Disease and Afterlife, 1800 – 1920 Esther Harper Ph.D. History King’s College London April 2018 1 2 Abstract Sports historians have identified the 19th century as a period of significant change in the sport of horseracing, during which it evolved from a sporting pastime of the landed gentry into an industry, and came under increased regulatory control from the Jockey Club.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tyro a Review of the Arts of Painting Sculptore and Design
    THE TYRO A REVIEW OF THE ARTS OF PAINTING SCULPTORE AND DESIGN. EDITED BY WYNDHAM LEWIS. TO BE PRODUCED AT INTERVALS OF TWO OR THREE MONTHS. Publishers : THE EGOIST PRESS, 2, ROBERT STREET, ADELPH1. PUBLISHED AT 1s. 6d, Subscription for 4 numbers, 6s. 6d, with postage. Printed by Bradley & Son, Ltd., Little Crown Yard, Mill Lane, Reading. NOTE ON TYROS. We present to you in this number the pictures of several very powerful Tyros.* These immense novices brandish their appetites in their faces, lay bare their teeth in a valedictory, inviting, or merely substantial laugh. A. laugh, like a sneeze, exposes the nature of the individual with an unexpectedness that is perhaps a little unreal. This sunny commotion in the face, at the gate of the organism, brings to the surface all the burrowing and interior broods which the individual may harbour. Understanding this so well, people hatch all their villainies in this seductive glow. Some of these Tyros are trying to furnish you with a moment of almost Mediterranean sultriness, in order, in this region of engaging warmth, to obtain some advantage over you. But most of them are, by the skill of the artist, seen basking themselves in the sunshine of their own abominable nature. These partly religious explosions of laughing Elementals are at once satires, pictures, and stories The action of a Tyro is necessarily very restricted; about that of a puppet worked with deft fingers, with a screaming voice underneath. There is none" of the pathos of Pagliacci in the story of the Tyro. It is the child in him that has risen in his laugh, and you get a perspective of his history.
    [Show full text]
  • 27 September 2004
    CLIVEDEN PRESS BACKGROUND INFORMATION INTRODUCTION Cliveden House is a five-star luxury hotel owned by the National Trust and operated under a long lease arrangement by the owners of Chewton Glen, who added the world-famous property to their portfolio on Thursday 2nd February 2012. Chewton Glen and Cliveden fall under the guidance and direction of Managing Director, Andrew Stembridge and both iconic hotels remain independently operated with a shared vision for unparalleled luxury, attention to detail and the finest levels of service. Cliveden is a grand stately home; it commands panoramic views over the beautiful Berkshire countryside and the River Thames. The house is surrounded by 376 acres of magnificent National Trust formal gardens and parkland. Guests have included every British monarch since George I as well as Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan, President Roosevelt, George Bernard Shaw, John Profumo, the infamous Christine Keeler, and many other well-known names from the past and present. Less than 45 minutes west of London and 20 minutes from London Heathrow Airport, the hotel has 38 rooms, including 15 spacious suites, a summerhouse by the Thames, together with boathouse and boats, heated pool, spa and a range of sporting and leisure facilities. The André Garrett Restaurant is complemented by private dining, banqueting and meeting facilities. Both the original Cliveden, built in 1666 for the 2nd Duke of Buckingham and its replacement, built in 1824 were sadly destroyed by fire, the present Grade 1 listed Italianate mansion was built in 1851 by the architect Charles Barry for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland.
    [Show full text]
  • Willis Papers INTRODUCTION Working
    Willis Papers INTRODUCTION Working papers of the architect and architectural historian, Dr. Peter Willis (b. 1933). Approx. 9 metres (52 boxes). Accession details Presented by Dr. Willis in several instalments, 1994-2013. Additional material sent by Dr Willis: 8/1/2009: WIL/A6/8 5/1/2010: WIL/F/CA6/16; WIL/F/CA9/10, WIL/H/EN/7 2011: WIL/G/CL1/19; WIL/G/MA5/26-31;WIL/G/SE/15-27; WIL/G/WI1/3- 13; WIL/G/NA/1-2; WIL/G/SP2/1-2; WIL/G/MA6/1-5; WIL/G/CO2/55-96. 2103: WIL/G/NA; WIL/G/SE15-27 Biographical note Peter Willis was born in Yorkshire in 1933 and educated at the University of Durham (BArch 1956, MA 1995, PhD 2009) and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where his thesis on “Charles Bridgeman: Royal Gardener” (PhD 1962) was supervised by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. He spent a year at the University of Edinburgh, and then a year in California on a Fulbright Scholarship teaching in the Department of Art at UCLA and studying the Stowe Papers at the Huntington Library. From 1961-64 he practised as an architect in the Edinburgh office of Sir Robert Matthew, working on the development plan for Queen’s College, Dundee, the competition for St Paul’s Choir School in London, and other projects. In 1964-65 he held a Junior Fellowship in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, DC, returning to England to Newcastle University in 1965, where he was successively Lecturer in Architecture and Reader in the History of Architecture.
    [Show full text]
  • The Posthumanistic Theater of the Bloomsbury Group
    Maine State Library Digital Maine Academic Research and Dissertations Maine State Library Special Collections 2019 In the Mouth of the Woolf: The Posthumanistic Theater of the Bloomsbury Group Christina A. Barber IDSVA Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalmaine.com/academic Recommended Citation Barber, Christina A., "In the Mouth of the Woolf: The Posthumanistic Theater of the Bloomsbury Group" (2019). Academic Research and Dissertations. 29. https://digitalmaine.com/academic/29 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Maine State Library Special Collections at Digital Maine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Research and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Maine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IN THE MOUTH OF THE WOOLF: THE POSTHUMANISTIC THEATER OF THE BLOOMSBURY GROUP Christina Anne Barber Submitted to the faculty of The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy August, 2019 ii Accepted by the faculty at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Committee Chair: Simonetta Moro, PhD Director of School & Vice President for Academic Affairs Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts Committee Member: George Smith, PhD Founder & President Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts Committee Member: Conny Bogaard, PhD Executive Director Western Kansas Community Foundation iii © 2019 Christina Anne Barber ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iv Mother of Romans, joy of gods and men, Venus, life-giver, who under planet and star visits the ship-clad sea, the grain-clothed land always, for through you all that’s born and breathes is gotten, created, brought forth to see the sun, Lady, the storms and clouds of heaven shun you, You and your advent; Earth, sweet magic-maker, sends up her flowers for you, broad Ocean smiles, and peace glows in the light that fills the sky.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Capability' Brown
    ‘Capability’ Brown & The Landscapes of Middle England Introduction (Room ) Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was born in in the Northumbrian hamlet of Kirkharle to a family of yeoman-farmers. The local landowner, Sir William Loraine, granted him his first gardening job at Kirkharle Hall in . Demonstrating his enduring capacity for attracting aristocratic patrons, by the time he was twenty-five Viscount Cobham had promoted him to the position of Head Gardener at Stowe. Brown then secured a number of lucrative commissions in the Midlands: Newnham Paddox, Great Packington, Charlecote Park (Room ) and Warwick Castle in Warwickshire, Croome Court in Worcestershire (Room ), Weston Park in Staffordshire (Room ) and Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire. The English landscape designer Humphry Repton later commented that this rapid success was attributable to a ‘natural quickness of perception and his habitual correctness of observation’. On November Brown married Bridget Wayet. They had a daughter and three sons: Bridget, Lancelot, William and John. And in Brown set himself up as architect and landscape consultant in Hammersmith, west of London, beginning a relentlessly demanding career that would span thirty years and encompass over estates. In , coinciding directly with his newly elevated position of Royal Gardener to George , Brown embarked on several illustrious commissions, including Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire. He then took on as business partner the successful builder-architect Henry Holland the Younger. Two years later, in , Holland married Brown’s daughter Bridget, thus cementing the relationship between the two families. John Keyse Sherwin, after Nathaniel Dance, Lancelot Brown (Prof Tim Mowl) As the fashion for landscapes designed in ‘the Park way’ increased in of under-gardeners.
    [Show full text]
  • Sovereign Debt Diplomacies OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 9/2/2021, Spi OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 9/2/2021, Spi
    OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 9/2/2021, SPi Sovereign Debt Diplomacies OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 9/2/2021, SPi OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 9/2/2021, SPi Sovereign Debt Diplomacies Rethinking Sovereign Debt from Colonial Empires to Hegemony Edited by PIERRE PÉNET andJUAN FLORES ZENDEJAS 1 OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 9/2/2021, SPi 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2021 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2021 Impression: 1 Some rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, for commercial purposes, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. This is an open access publication, available online and distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), a copy of which is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of this licence should
    [Show full text]
  • Manning, Roger B. "Holy Wars, Crusades, and Religious Wars." War and Peace in the Western Political Imagination: from Classical Antiquity to the Age of Reason
    Manning, Roger B. "Holy Wars, Crusades, and Religious Wars." War and Peace in the Western Political Imagination: From Classical Antiquity to the Age of Reason. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 105–180. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 25 Sep. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474258739.ch-003>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 25 September 2021, 06:12 UTC. Copyright © Roger B. Manning 2016. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 3 Holy Wars, Crusades, and Religious Wars Th en standing inside the gate of the camp, he said: If any man be on the Lord’s side let him join with me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said to them: Th us saith the Lord God of Israel: Put every man his sword upon his thigh: go, and return from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, friend and neighbour. And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there were slain that day about three and twenty thousand men. Exodus 32:26–8 And the Lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be fi lled. Gospel of St. Luke, 14:23 When the sacred months are passed, kill the idolaters wherever you fi nd them, and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush; but if they repent, pray regularly, and give the alms tax, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving, merciful.
    [Show full text]
  • The French Style
    The French style In the reign of Louis XIV., the formal garden reached a height that could never be surpassed. This era combined an ingenious artist, an enthusiastic ruler with unlimited powers, technical skill unknown up until that time and a abundance of practical fellow-artists to make the individual arts and garden areas combine to be successful as a whole It followed that the art of gardens grew to its utmost height, and became a dominate style in the western world The northern garden style originated in France, and became the one shining example for Middle and Northern Europe. All eyes were fixed on the magic place Versailles; and to emulate this work of art was the aim of all ambitions. No imitator, however, could attain his object completely, because nowhere else did circumstances combine so favorably. The great importance of the style lay in its adaptability to the natural conditions of the North, and in the fact that it was easily taught and understood. Thus we have a remarkable spectacle: in spite of the fact that immediately after Louis’ death the picturesque style appeared—that enemy destined to strike a mortal blow at a fashion which was at least a thousand years old—for some decades later there came into being many specimens of the finest formal gardens, and the art flourished, especially in countries like Germany, Russia, and Sweden. France did not become mistress of Europe in garden art merely because of such of her examples as could be copied; of almost equal importance was the wide popularity of a book which first appeared anonymously in France in 1709 under the name of Théorie et Pratique du Jardinage.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient and Veteran Trees in Capability Brown Landscapes
    Science & Opinion This article is provided by the Ancient and Ancient Tree Forum, which champions the biological, cultural and heritage value of Britain’s ancient and veteran trees, and gives veteran trees in advice on their management at www.ancienttreeforum.co.uk. Master Gardener to the King (George III) Capability Brown at Hampton Court in 1764, a post which he held until his death in 1783. The enduring legacy of Brown and the other landscapes great landscape gardeners is not simply that they designed the ‘perfect’ landscapes in which their clients wished to live and to Alan Cathersides, National Landscape Adviser for Historic entertain their friends, but that they created England and co-opted supporter of the Ancient Tree Forum environments which continue to enthral successive generations and increasing numbers of people. As the population has This year sees the tercentenary of landscape gardeners, who included increased, become better educated, more the birth of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Charles Bridgeman and William Kent who mobile and possessed of more free time Brown, who is believed to have worked before him and Humphry Repton than even the most enlightened 18th- designed around 170 landscapes who followed him, continuing into the early century philosophers could have predicted, during his working lifetime. Brown part of the 19th century. these landscapes still speak to us and incorporated and protected existing deservedly rank alongside our great historic old trees in his landscapes, as well Brown’s early life is not well documented, buildings, which many of them surround, as planting hundreds, and in some but after leaving school he went to work as important landmarks in the history of our cases thousands, of new trees.
    [Show full text]